I just took some stewing meat from my freezer and it has some freezer burn on it. It has only been in the freezer for a little over a month? This has been happening a lot. Almost every package of meat I take out of the freezer has freezer burn on it.

What could be causing this? Can I still eat the meat if I cut the freezer burn off? If not I am going to have a lot of meat to throw away.

The recommended time for beef is as low as 2-3 months for ground meat and up to 1 year for roasts. After the recommended time period, the quality goes down. However, as long as meat is constantly frozen it is safe to eat. The recommendations for maximum freezer time is based on quality -- not safety. Also the colder the freezer, the longer the meat will stay at higher quality.

I just wish I knew why the meat would get freezer burn so quick. I froze it in the original packaging from the store and I bought it the last of November so it should not have gotten freezer burn that fast...I don't think.

I have the best luck freezing meat when I use a vaacuum sealer. Keeps just like the day I froze the item. I vacuum seal my veges too. Those new Ziplock manual vacuums and bags work pretty well too. I use that when I am in a hurry or only have one item to freeze.

It's never a good idea to freeze things in the store package unless, as someone said, you plan to use it with a week or so.

I wrap steaks and chops individually in Saran Wrap. That way all of the air is out and the wrap hugs the meat. Then I put the wrapped steaks into a freezer Ziploc bag. I do this with meat I will use within a month or two. Chicken is washed and put into the same kind of bags---enough for a meal in each bag. If I'm going to keep meat longer than a 2-3 months, I use either my Food Saver, or my little Reynolds Handi-Vac. The little one does a good job and is handier for me to use if I'm in a hurry, or have just a few items to package.

I don't get freezer burn unless something gets lost in the freezer and sits there for more than a year! I use poultry within about 6 months or so, and beef within a year. But we just don't buy so much ahead. We watch for sales, and this works for us.

There is so much good information in this thread. Oldgirl, for the most part I have always just put the meat in the freezer in the store packaging but I need to do like you do and wrap each chop and steak individually. That way maybe I won't have to worry about freezer burn.

I probably should ask this question in a seperate thread but when any of you buy a lot of meat at one time do you stack one package on top of the other? The reason I ask is that I have done that before and when I got some of the meat out that had other meat on top of it the meat was kind of dark.

I was reading the website that red savage posted and they said that meat should be frozen in a single layer and not stacked.

Marie---When we get a lot of meat at one time, I do not stack it to freeze it. The top and bottom ones would freeze fast, but the ones in the middle take longer, and I don't like that. There are just the two of us, so I put two Saran Wrapped steaks in a bag, and 2-3 wrapped pork chops, depending on the size, in a bag. Then I usually stand them up, so they aren't so close to each other, and the air can get to each one and freeze faster. Once frozen, I stack them.

With chicken, I lay them in a single layer in our upright freezer to freeze. Once they are frozen, I stack them to save space. If I don't take the time to put them in the other freezer, I just place the bags in different places in the refrigerator freezer so they can freeze faster in there, then can be stacked.

I don't know why the meat should get dark when stacked, but it might be that it doesn't freeze fast enough? I don't know!

When I get steaks on sale, I bring them home and pop them into a glad freezer bag. It's best not to open them. When I thaw them out I leave them in the freezer bag for an hour or so in the sink,and it's just like it came from the store. I've got a roast from last September in the oven right now and it smells yummy.

If you have room in your freezer for a lot - I highly recommend getting a vacuum type sealer which has worked for me for years! I don't have any problems with freezer burn and can package things in whatever sizes I want and works for me.